


Winner

by TrappedInAPentagram



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Crushes, Cute, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Making Out, Mutual Pining, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 12:58:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13718181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrappedInAPentagram/pseuds/TrappedInAPentagram
Summary: They'd worked with each other for months. They were best friends. So why was it so hard to take it one step further?





	Winner

Friends eat ice cream together, and talk and laugh about the stupidest things. That's what Axel had told him once, at least. 

It had only been just past a week since Roxas had joined the Organization, and Axel had been assigned as his mentor. Roxas remembered all the training, his beginner missions. But mostly, he remembered Axel. He often got caught up in the way Axel would clasp a hand over his shoulder when he was congratulating him on a job well done, or the way Axel sometimes ruffled Roxas' hair as he walked by as a show of companionship. Because that's all it was, right? A gesture of friendship, nothing more.

Roxas groaned and rolled so that his face was buried in his pillow. This didn't last long, as he shortly ran out of breathable air, so he turned his head while remaining on his stomach. These days, almost a year since joining the Organization, Roxas found himself in a difficult position. Axel was the one who'd taught him all about friendship. So why did it seem like he'd been holding something back? _Probably a figment of my own stupid imagination,_ Roxas frowned in thought. Sure, Axel was friendly to him. Sure, Roxas loved it when Axel gave him hugs on occasion because he could smell the bonfire scent that clung to his robes. Sure, they shared ice cream after almost every misson. And sure, when Axel and Roxas shared ice cream on the clock tower, Roxas spent more time than not watching Axel's eyes, admiring the way the light from the setting sun shone through his green irises, making them glint like emeralds, standing out against the red of the sky...Shit. He was in love with Axel.

Roxas rolled again to be on his back, staring helplessly at the ceiling. Axel was his best friend. Even though the redhead could certainly be a nuisance, there was always a charm about him. Roxas found himself reminiscing about the time Axel left for Castle Oblivion, thinking he'd never come back. He remembered climbing the clock tower every day, always expecting a mass of red hair to greet him at the top, and the crushing disappointment when there never was, along with the overwhelming rush of relief the day Axel had come back. Roxas mentally kicked himself for only being able to say he'd been worried at the time. Axel had told him Nobodies don't have the hearts to worry. So technically, Roxas supposed that also meant they shouldn't have the hearts to love.

At any rate, none of it mattered. It wasn't like Axel felt the same. Roxas moved his arm to cover his eyes. He mumbled, "Idiot," under his breath. 

A gentle knock on his door made him jump. He sat up, saying, "Come in," and wondering who it could be at this hour. His stomach fluttered in anticipation, thinking that maybe somehow it was Axel who was about to enter the room.

The one on the other side of the door turned out to be Xion. "Did I wake you?" she asked as she peered around the doorframe. 

"Nope," Roxas replied, "I haven't been able to sleep." He realized too late that telling Xion that factoid might have been a mistake.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she replied, walking into the room to stand by his bed, "is something bothering you?"

Damnit. He should have known she'd ask. "Everything's fine," he said, adding, "just a lot of work, lately."

"If you've been working that hard, I'd have thought you'd sleep easier," Xion retorted with a small smile.

"Are you implying I don't do my job?" Roxas asked, though he couldn't help grinning as well. Xion had that affect on people.

"I'm implying that you should be honest with me," she said, though she didn't sound hurt that he wasn't, nor did she sound forceful. "You know you can talk to me about anything."

Roxas sighed, "I know."

She sat on the edge of his bed and put a hand on his knee, "If you'd rather be alone, I can go."

"No, it's alright. What did you need?"

"I wanted to ask you about something."

Roxas' brows furrowed, "And it had to wait until everyone had gone to bed?"

"I mean, if I wanted to embarrass you in front of the others, I'd have asked sooner," she admitted.

"I guess I appreciate you waiting, then, but now I'm afraid of your question."

"Roxas," she started but then paused, apparently unsure how to continue. She looked away and tried again, "I've...known you awhile."

"Okay?" Roxas said, afraid of where she was going with this.

"So...I've picked up on some of your mannerisms. The things you do when you're happy, for example, or scared."

"...And?" Roxas could feel his heart beat pick up in pace.

"And, well," she rubbed her neck, "I've noticed that there's some things you do when you're around one specific person."

Roxas swallowed, "What would those be?" Was he really that obvious?

She finally looked back to him, "Does a fiery red head ring any bells?"

Roxas considered playing it cool, but he knew his gig was up; Xion was particularly perceptive about these things. He fell back onto his pillow, grumbling, "Alright, fine. I may...have a crush on him."

Xion smiled, "Is that what's been bugging you tonight?"

"Yeah," Roxas mumbled, rolling to his side. "He's one of my best friends, next to you. But I can't help but feel like that's all we can be."

Xion snorted, quickly moving a hand to cover her mouth. "Sorry, I don't mean to sound rude, but you can't be serious."

"What?" Roxas asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"You can't not have noticed."

"Noticed what?" he asked, sitting up again and propping himself on one arm.

Xion rolled her eyes and stood up, "I'll let him tell you."

"Xion, wait, noticed what?"

"Goodnight, Roxas," she smiled knowingly, heading to the door.

"Xi-" Roxas started to ask, reaching for her and losing his balance, ending up toppling out of the bed to the floor. "Xion, wait," he said, but she was already gone. What was that about? What had he not noticed? Could she have meant Axel...no. He was probably reading too much into it. Roxas grumbled as he untangled himself from his sheets where his foot had caught a blanket on his way down. He stood and considered chasing after her, but decided against it. He sat back in his bed and watched the clouds in the window roll through the night sky for a while before laying back down. He forced himself to shut his eyes and relax, but his hammering heart kept him up wondering.

The next morning, Roxas hauled himself out of bed looking like he'd just gone to hell and back. He didn't bother trying to fix his hair, because his eyes would give him away, regardless. He trudged down the halls of the castle to the dining wing, where a couple members were seated for breakfast. Roxas had planned on simply walking by without greeting any of them, but one of their voices rang out, "Gooood morning, Roxy!"

Roxas clamped his eyes shut briefly before turning to glare at Demyx, who was always too loud for his taste. The pet name this early in the morning didn't help his attitude, either. Roxas said, "Hey," shortly.

"Wow, you look like hell, kiddo," Xigbar said before taking a sip of coffee.

"Thanks," Roxas replied flatly.

Demyx cooed, "I'll bet I know someone who'd think he looks beautiful."

Roxas was prepared to ignore them and continue on, but Demyx's comment had caught him off guard. Xigbar chuckled, "Who, his mother?"

"No need to be rude, Xig," Demyx took a bite of bacon and talked around the crunch, "'sides, you know who I mean."

Roxas hated himself for taking the bait, but he turned and asked, "What are you talking about, Demyx?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, Mr. Grumpy," Demyx smirked. Roxas waved an arm dismissively as he gave up and headed to the kitchen. He nodded to Saix, who was leaning against a counter, looking lost in thought. 

"Good morning," Saix said absently, holding a mug of coffee with one hand and stirring it with the other.

"Morning," Roxas replied, rifling through the freezer to find the frozen waffles.

"Sleep well?" Saix asked. He didn't have to have much tonal inflection for Roxas to pick up on the sarcasm.

"Ha ha," Roxas drawled, popping two waffles into the toaster. If Axel was here, no doubt he'd offer to toast them with some of his fire magic, which would have ended in the smoke alarm going off and the three of them frantically trying to find the fire extinguisher. Axel probably would have tried to smother it with his coat. Roxas grinned to himself at the thought, but the daydream was interrupted by Saix.

Saix's hand had paused in the stirring of his drink as he watched Roxas. "I hope you have the strength for your mission, today."

"I'll be fine," Roxas shrugged noncommittally. "Not like I haven't worked while tired, before."

"Not this tired," Saix said, then took a sip. 

"Once I have breakfast, I'll be good to go. What's the mission, today, anyway?" Roxas asked, reaching to get his waffles out of the toaster.

"You've been tasked to join Axel in clearing out some heartless down in Market Street."

At the information, Roxas ended up burning his finger on the edge of the hot metal. He hissed in a breath and shook his hand off before asking, "A-Axel?"

"Yes," Saix said, devoid of expression as ever, and yet Roxas could somehow pick up on Saix's amusement at his reaction. "He's waiting for you in the study."

"Oh, okay," Roxas said, trying his best to mask his emotions as he picked his waffles up and set them on a plate, almost forgetting to put syrup on them, lost in thought as he now was. He grabbed a glass of orange juice and headed back out to the dining room, where Demyx remained, but Xigbar was now absent.

Demyx leaned across the table as Roxas sat down to eat, "Hey, Rox, hope I didn't offend you earlier."

Roxas asked, "Huh?"

"You know, with the whole knowing someone who'd think you were beautiful thing."

"Oh, right. Don't worry about it," Roxas cut into the waffle and took a bite.

"I mean, Axel usually thinks you look cute no matter what time of day it is."

Roxas choked, coughing until the chunk of waffle dislodged itself from where he'd inhaled it into his windpipe. He took a swig of orange juice and slammed the cup back onto the table, saying, "Oh, come on!"

Demyx's face split into a shit-eating grin, "You know he does."

"He does not, knock it off," Roxas glared.

"He totally does," Demyx retorted, lifting his hands up in a show of peace as he leaned back in his chair. "Just the other day, he told me he thought your ass looked cute in those jeans you wear when you're not in your robes."

Roxas focused his entire will on not blushing, saying, "Shut up, dude."

Fortunately, Demyx could tell he was pushing the wrong buttons, so he backed down with a chuckle, "Alright, alright. No need to get your boxers in a twist; I just thought you'd like to know."

"It's not funny," Roxas grumbled, taking another bite of waffle and looking away.

Demyx shrugged and stood, "Suit yourself. I'll be composing a song for your guys' wedding in my room."

Roxas threw his fork at the musician, who laughed giddily as he dodged the projectile and fled the scene. Roxas put his elbows on the table and set his face in his hands; if he couldn't keep his composure in front of Demyx, how the hell was he going to hold up his facade during his mission?

After he'd cleaned up his breakfast, Roxas steeled his nerves and headed for the study. As Saix had said, the Flurry of Dancing Flames himself was seated on a couch. Or, more accurately, his legs were over the back of the couch as his torso laid on the seat cushions, his head dangling upside down as he held a file in front of his face. His hair was long enough to be crushed up against the floor, and Roxas couldn't help but giggle at the sight as he entered the room. Axel lowered the file away from his eyes to see who'd walked in on him, and his face broke into a grin. 

"Hey, Rox," Axel said, not moving to sit up normally. "You ready for the mission today?"

Axel was one of the few people Roxas didn't mind calling him nicknames. Roxas nodded, "Sure am." Axel tilted his head, raising one brow while his opposite eye narrowed. A smirk played at the corner of his lips, and Roxas was so caught up in the expression he missed the question Axel asked. "Mmmwhat?" Roxas asked after realizing too late he hadn't heard a word Axel said.

"I asked if you got a wink of shuteye last night," Axel repeated. "You look terrible."

In some ways, it was a relief to not hear him say beautiful, as it'd have only proved Demyx right. Roxas rubbed his eye and said, "I was tossing and turning a lot, yeah."

Axel swung himself around to be sitting up straight, saying, "I can hoof this one alone if you're not feeling up to it."

"No, I'm fine," Roxas said a touch too quickly.

"Oohh, eager beaver, aren't we?" Axel smirked. "Can't get enough of driving that keyblade into heartless?"

"You could say that."

The playful lilt left Axel's voice as he asked, "Really, you doing okay?"

"Yeah, never better," Roxas said, hoping he was able to pass off a confident tone.

Axel didn't look entirely convinced, but he nodded before standing, "Alright then. Let's get this show on the road. The sooner we clean up these heartless, the sooner we can get ourselves some ice cream."

"Yeah," Roxas smiled. It was his favorite part of every mission, but he doubt Axel knew that.

At the end of the day, there hadn't actually been that many heartless that had spawned up. Disposing of them hardly proved to be a challenge, and Roxas was left wondering why he was assigned to do so with Axel when he probably could have handled it alone. Not that he minded the company, of course. They bought their ice cream and hiked the tower, taking their usual places on the ledge.

Axel said, "Looks like we're just in time for the sunset," with a wink and nudged Roxas' arm with his elbow. Roxas chuckled at the joke, as the sun in Twilight Town was always setting. 

"Lucky us," Roxas said, tucking one knee up to rest his arm on. After a few moments enjoying the ice cream and the silence, he looked to his left, where he thought he might see Xion approaching. "Wonder if she'll make it, today?" he asked more to himself.

Axel didn't give an immediate answer, but his quiet coughing to clear his throat caught Roxas' attention. He turned back to give Axel a questioning look. Axel said, "I uh...don't think she's coming."

"What makes you say that?" Roxas asked, a growing suspicion gnawing away in his stomach.

"I think," Axel scratched his head, not meeting Roxas' eyes, "she wants to give us some alone time."

"Oh yeah?" Roxas asked, feeling his arms tingle as goosebumps rose on them.

"Yeah," Axel chuckled airily, drumming his fingers on the stone ledge. 

"What's up?" Roxas asked, noting how Axel seemed like he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words.

"I...well," Axel tried, falling silent again. "Xion came to talk to me last night."

Oh no. "Really? Me, too."

"Yeah, she uh...she told me she was worried about you."

"She doesn't have to be," Roxas huffed.

"I know, but you know how she is. She cares about us."

"Yeah," Roxas looked out over the city, "I know she does."

Axel's eyes scanned the horizon as he thought. At length, he said, "Rox..." and turned to look at him. Roxas felt a chill shoot down his spine when he turned to look at him. It was no different than any other sunset, except for Axel's eyes, which were conveying a lot more than their normal good-natured humor. "Have you really not noticed?"

The moment was ruined a bit at the question Xion had posed to him now coming directly from Axel's mouth. But the fires of Roxas' irritation could barely even spark, and he found himself asking, "Notice what?" with more anticipation than anger.

Rather than answer, Axel began to smile. "You really don't know. She wasn't kidding," he ran a hand through his hair and blew a long stream of air from his lips.

"Whaaat?" Roxas whined, growing more impatient by the second.

"Rox, why do you think I keep meeting you up here for ice cream?" Axel asked.

The question wasn't what Roxas had expected. "Because...we're friends," he answered.

"Yeah, we're friends," Axel said. "We've been friends a long time, haven't we?"

"Almost a year, already."

"Yeah. That's something to remember," Axel smirked. "But there's a bit more to it than that."

Roxas felt his mouth go dry, utterly forgetting the remains of the popsicle in his hand. "Really?"

"Really," Axel said, shifting his hand to cover Roxas'. "I've enjoyed these times together. I make it a point to memorize as many details as possible about every night we sit up here, but...the thing is, you're kind of distracting."

Roxas blurted, "You think _I'm_ the distracting one?"

Axel grinned, the triangles under his eyes crinkling, "Have ya looked in the mirror lately?"

"I did this morning. I looked like shit."

Axel snorted, "You looked...human. Out of all the ways I've seen you look, that was one of my favorites."

"...Very funny."

"I'm being serious," Axel said, curling his fingers around Roxas' hand for emphasis. Roxas' voice caught in his throat, so Axel continued, "It's times like these that make me feel...whole. I know I've said stuff about how Nobodies don't feel, but," he rubbed his thumb across the back of Roxas' hand, "you make me feel like I can."

Roxas studied Axel's face and quietly replied, "You make me feel that way, too."

Axel looked back to Roxas' eyes, which were considerably closer than they were a few minutes prior. If Axel couldn't hear Roxas' heart beating, Roxas figured he'd see it jump from his chest soon enough. Axel said, "Guess that makes us different kinds of Nobodies," lowly.

"That's not a bad thing," Roxas replied. 

With that, Axel began leaning forward to close the distance, eyes flicking down to Roxas' mouth. Roxas was rooted to the spot, his eyes shutting as Axel's lips met his own for a brief moment. It was a strange sensation, but not an unpleasant one by any means. Neither moved for a moment, and then Roxas took his turn, leaning up to meet Axel's mouth again. Axel moved his hand to rest around Roxas' back while Roxas' hand moved to Axel's jaw. At first, it was slow-going, experimental. But the excitement, the relief, the sheer jubilation that he wasn't dreaming set in, and Roxas couldn't help but slide his hand through Axel's long hair, curling his fingers behind his head to pull it closer. The chaste kisses grew stronger, and Axel scooted closer to him as their lips pressed together with more fervor. Roxas hummed, enjoying the sweet and salty taste of the remains of ice cream from Axel. He wrapped his arms around Axel's shoulders and smiled into the kiss, one hand still carding through Axel's hair as the taller man rubbed a hand across Roxas' lower back.

Behind Axel's head, where most of Roxas' forgotten ice cream had melted away, the popsicle stick said, 'Winner.'

**Author's Note:**

> just wanted to try my hand at a one-off kingdom hearts fic X3 if you liked it and want me to write more for these two, toss me some suggestions! i'm open to them :D


End file.
